


How to Save (Fall for) an American

by Timewatcher9000



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BY UNDERAGE I MEAN BRIEFLY MENTIONED SEX BETWEEN TEENS, Bottom Original Percival Graves, Denial of Feelings, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Kidnapping, Light Angst, M/M, Newt is in denial, Overprotective Theseus Scamander, Period-Typical Homophobia, Protective Theseus Scamander, Self-Denial, Top Theseus Scamander
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 03:29:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17317226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timewatcher9000/pseuds/Timewatcher9000
Summary: One day, the patronuses stop. Theseus eventually finds himself in New York, looking for Percival Graves.He tried contacting Seraphina, but she brushed off his concerns with a small, “he’s probably just busy,” but that’s the thing. Percival was never too busy.Its not until he walks into MACUSA that he feels slightly better at the sight of Percival storming around. The tension comes back though when he walks up to Percival and he acts like a stranger. Percival did always like to keep a professional atomphere in the work place but his politeness wasn’t one of professionalism. It looked force. Never did Theseus think that Percival would be annoyed to see him. Exasperated? Maybe. But the light grimace on the man’s face was not one he ever saw before.“Is something wrong Percy?” Theseus found himself asking, reaching to grab the man’s arm.“Everything is fine, is there something you needed?”“No, I haven’t heard any updates on you for a while. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Theseus replied, eyes watching over as Percival began to walk away.Theseus didn’t chase after the strange man.





	How to Save (Fall for) an American

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said: headcanon that newt sends a patronus to theseus that just says ‘i love you and i’m safe’ when he’s travelling to reassure him and graves starts too when he’s on a mission.
> 
> Anonymous said: ok but it all would have been a lot easier in fantastic beasts with established thesival and theseus introducing percival as just 'percy' when he meets the scamanders and he 'works in the MACUSA mum' 'no newt he hasn't left out a u that's just how americans write' and so newt not knowing that 'percy' is The Percival Graves until he acc goes to america and sees him and then he's like wtf and that is how grindelwald is revealed

There had been talk about an  _ American _ friend that Theseus met on a school field trip, Percy was his name or something like that. Newt himself didn’t see what was so special about this boy. So what he was American? The only thing that means is that he talks and writes funny. Mother had discouraged Newt’s jealousy --  _ even though it wasn’t  _ \-- with a wave of her hand when Newt voiced his distaste. Theseus simply gave a hearty laugh, defending Percy with a vague “Americans don’t like to add the ‘u’.” 

 

Newt allowed for his eyes to trail along the paper that Theseus was holding in his hand. From what Newt could see, this Percy guy really appreciated the aesthetic. The ends of his “i’s” were curved and for some reason he didn’t dot them. It was pretty to look at, but Newt still felt an uneasy pit in his stomach at thought of the American. 

 

“Newt? Do you not like him?” Theseus asked, the grin that was on his face now gone. 

 

A heavy blanket covered the air and Newt glanced around for his mother, who was now gone. Looking back at Theseus, Newt almost let out a whimper at the heartbroken expression on his face. There was an urgency in his face that Newt couldn't exactly decipher, but Newt found that he was shaking his head.  _ He never wanted to see that look Theseus’ face again. _

 

“No, I just-- I don’t know him. Is he really that great?” Newt rambled, greatly relieved at the way Theseus’ face instantly lit up.

 

“Yes, he’s amazing,” Theseus exclaimed, before his face dropped a bit. Newt felt his nervousness increasing as Theseus leaned forwards. Newt suddenly felt like he was six-years-old again and Theseus was telling him that he stole a cookie from the cookie jar.

 

“I think I really like him Newt. I like him  _ a lot _ .”

 

Newt always knew that Theseus was a little bent, but it never occurred to him that Theseus would  _ actually _ get involved with another guy. Newt could feel his heart thudding within his chest and Newt quickly skimmed the room looking out for their parents. Theseus’ face was so earnest and it only broke his heart more to know that Theseus and Percy could never truly be happy.

 

It was only a matter of time until Theseus and Percy were religiously sending letters to each other. Newt took it upon himself to memorize the details of Percy’s letters. Theseus had to have known, Newt wasn’t exactly discreet as he snooped around the room, leaving the drawers opened and leaving his papers out of place. 

 

It wasn’t hard to fall in love with Percy, Newt learned that quickly from reading the letters. He was a charmer, always showering Theseus in compliments and taking care of him. Perhaps that was normal, but there was an underlying emotion among the pretty penmanship, an intense one. Newt himself wasn’t bent, he’d never let himself bed another man, but he couldn’t deny that part of him that wondered,  _ “what if it was me?” _ But Newt wasn’t in love  _ (he promised himself he would stop thinking about it) _ , he just understood why someone would be. 

 

What was hard though, was trying to remember that he doesn’t  _ actually _ know Percy. Yes, Newt memorized every detail in those letters, but it wasn’t the same. Newt already knew that Percy despised chocolate and that he preferred Dunkin Donuts coffee to any other coffee. He also knew that the American refused to drink his coffee if it was so much as  _ slightly _ wrong. There had been a few times that Newt caught himself practicing Percy’s coffee order.  **One Dunkin Dark Roast with half a tablespoon of sugar and ¼ a cup of half and half.** He also remembered Percival’s favorite book genre -- romance. Yet at the same time there was so much he didn’t know about Percy and Newt couldn’t help but be jealous of Theseus. Not because he was in love with the other man  _ (he wasn’t bent, he just couldn’t be),  _ but because he wanted to befriend the American too.

 

Newt didn’t know his full name. He simply knew him as Percy, a nickname which he apparently isn’t fond of. When Newt first stumbled upon the letter, he was confused as to why his brother would call Percy by a name he didn't even like. Looking back on it though, maybe it was simply exasperation. His confusion only proved his point further, he knew nothing about Percy.

 

Yes, there were photos of Percy. In fact, there was a picture of Theseus and Percy on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, at least that’s what Theseus called it. Newt wasn’t sure how much of Theseus’ story was true. Running away from muggle cops seemed too obscure to be real. Yet when Newt stared at the picture he couldn’t help but wonder if it as true. After all, it was impossible to miss the way that Percy’s cheeks were dusted in a light blush and that his breathing was heavy enough to bring out a small pattern of “dragon breath” in the cold New York air. Newt never bothered to look into it though,  he simply appreciated the photo and wondered what it would’ve been like to actually see Percy.

 

The closest that Newt has ever got to Percy was through his patronus. Newt remembered that day, he was finishing up some last minute homework for charms, when suddenly his mother shriek echoed through the air. Newt charged out of his room, stumbling down the stairs and out to the backyard. Tripping over the door frame, Newt let out an “oof” as he came into contact with the ground. Glancing up, Newt came eye to eye with a misty winged horse, an Abraxan one specifically. Professor Fletcher assigned an essay on the creatures one time, and Newt always looked forward to seeing one up close. But this was a patronus, anyone could tell as that much.

 

_ Was this Theseus’ patronus? _ Theseus, as if reading Newt’s thoughts, stated, “This is Percy’s patronus, his DADA class was practicing theory and extra credit was offered to anyone who could make some progress. Turns out Percy was capable of doing one from the get-go.”

 

“Your friend is very powerful Theseus, I wonder what he was thinking of when he casted this,” mother commented, smiling as the patronus leaned into her touch.

 

“He didn’t say, apparently you don’t even need to be thinking of a happy thought. If you have a good enough control of your emotions, all you need to do is stimulate the feelings of happiness. That’s why most people simply recommend using a happy memory,” Theses answered, rambling a bit. He probably wanted to show off how smart Percy was.

 

Later that night, Newt would come to learn that Theseus lied. Percy did in fact tell Theseus what he was thinking of. That letter was much harder to find. Instead of keeping it in the messy pile in his desk, Theseus had it hidden in a compartment the frame of his bed. Newt almost missed it, but the door to the compartment was slightly ajar. Theseus must’ve been in it recently. Opening it up, Newt found a few empty candy wrappers and one single letter. Newt carefully picked up the letter, his heart thumping wildly in his chest.  _ There was surely a reason why Theseus was hiding it? _ Not letting that stop him, Newt opened it and began to read the familiar penmanship.

 

**_“Hello again Theseus. I’m sorry that I couldn’t write to you last night; I ran out of parchment paper and by the time I realized, it was much too late purchase any more. I’m glad to see that your day went so great yesterday. Newt seems like such an interesting kid, maybe I’ll finally be able to meet your family someday? I know our schedules don’t always line up, but perhaps over the summer we can plan something? Enough about that though, I have some really exciting news! I casted my first patronus yesterday! It was brilliant— an Abraxan Winged Horse. I haven’t yet figured out what that implies, but it’s beautiful. I didn’t even know I could do such a thing. Professor Johnson, my DADA instructor, was lecturing us on the Patronus Charm and offered a free quiz grade to anyone who could cast an incorporeal patronus (the mist surrounding the actual patronus). When he saw my patronus he nearly fainted! He already passed me on the course, so I’m going to be spending the next few class periods helping out Professor Lenny (you must remember him, he was the one who gave you the No-Maj candy). I suppose I have you to thank for all this though. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking of you. Specifically, I was thinking of our first night together. You were so gentle with me Theseus, and honestly I’d never thought I’d be able to enjoy myself so much with another boy. I can never forget that night, feeling you insi-“_ **

 

That’s where Newt stopped reading. His face was starting to become hot, and Newt quickly put all of Theseus’ belongings back. Scrambling out of the room, Newt tried to put what he read in the back of his mind. Deciding to put his effort into his homework once again, Newt swiftly grabbed some snacks and headed back to his room. It was only a few minutes into the work though that Newt began to think back to the letter, the words burned into his mind. Eventually his embarrassment turned into a mild bitterness at the fact that Theseus was already dating Percy yet he’s never met the boy. He slowly felt his temper lowering at the thought of seeing Percy over the summer, how unfortunate that it never happened.

 

Which is now why Newt, years later, found himself nervously pacing back and forth in the MACUSA headquarters. According to Theseus, Percy also decided to pursue a career as an auror. Something about Percy being a descendant of the “Original Twelve,” whatever that meant. Theseus has explained what it meant, but Newt was too focused on the probability of finding Percy in New York. Recently, his letters stopped. Even his patronuses stopped arriving. Theseus wasn’t handling it too well. which was understandable seeing as disappearing from your boyfriend’s life  _ is _ sort of fucked up. He was tempted to send out his own patronus to locate Percy, but if he didn’t want to be found why should Newt force it? So Newt pinned all thoughts of Percy to the back of his head the moment he ran into a pretty brunette girl.

 

It wasn’t until Newt finally met the infamous Percival Graves that he began to have thoughts of Percy again. The two of them had quite similar names, didn’t they? Newt’s heart began to pound a bit harder as he made eye contact with the Director, sure he was in the middle of an interrogation… but there was something so familiar about those eyes. A small part of Newt hopped that Percival was actually Percy, but this was never what Newt imagined him to be. This was not the charismatic man from the letters who curled his “i’s.” Percival was much too… rough around the edges to be Percy. 

 

“That was the Director of Magical Security. His name is Percival Graves, he’s one of the most talented wizards out here,” Tina briefly explained, leading Newt out of the small bright room. 

 

Still in a daze, Newt nodded blindly at what Tina was saying. That is until the words “hates” and “Percy” snapped him out of his daze for a moment.

 

“I’m sorry what?”

 

“He hates the name Percy though, one of the interns called him that and he threw a bitch fit.”

 

_ It can’t be him. It has to just be a coincidence. _

 

However, a few days later Newt found himself frozen in shock as he entered into Percival’s office. On his desk laid a small dragontooth, a gift that Newt vaguely remembered giving him when Theseus announced their relationship. Allowing for his eyes to continue to roam on the desk, until they settled onto a small picture of Theseus.  _ Percival is definitely Percy, but then who is  _ **_this_ ** _ Percival? _

 

“Is something the matter Mr. Scamander?”

 

_ He’s acting like a stranger. _

 

Newt took a seat, eyeing the intern that stumbled into the room before answering, “Yeah, I’m fine Percival. Why?”

 

Percival didn’t answer, instead he watched the intern place down a cup of steaming hot coffee. Newt narrowed his eyes, trying to see what type of coffee he was drinking. Because Percy was different, too different than how he was in the letters. 

 

“Here’s your coffee sir, one decaf coffee with cream,” the intern mumbled before scurrying out of the room. 

 

**Wrong.**

 

“Since when did you start taking your coffee light?” Newt asked, tired of waiting around for ‘Percival’ to do something,

 

“And since when did you know my coffee order?” ‘Percival’ snapped back, harshly setting his coffee down, causing it to spill.

 

**Second Mistake. Percy hated messes.**

 

“Well my brothe-” Newt started, before being cut off halfway through with ‘Percival’s’ snort of laughter.

 

“What does your brother have to do with anything? I’ve never met him before.”

 

**Whoever this is didn’t do their research….**

 

Newt furrowed his brows, trying to figure out what to do next.  _ Should I take this straight to Seraphina? Surely she noticed something something was wrong. _

 

Praying that Seraphina would believe him, Newt hurried along with the meeting. As he walked out the door, Newt could hear the faint mumbling of a, “scatterbrain” coming from the office. Ignoring the bubbling irritation, Newt made his way towards Seraphina’s office. Everyone cleared his way as he stalked around MACUSA; it was odd, most would entirely ignore Newt and the few looks he did get were of curiosity. Maybe the determination showed on his face or maybe there was something about a British man storming to the American President’s office that was worth watching. No matter what it was, Newt was grateful nobody stopped him for conversation.

 

Newt paused as he was mid-knock.  _ Even if she believes me, what could she do?  _ He furrowed his brow before letting his hand drop.  _ If he’s taking polyjuice potion then the most they can do is wait for it to wear off. If he’s not… then that’s going to take longer.  _

 

Deciding that Seraphina wouldn’t be be able to do much, Newt walked down to MACUSA cafeteria.  _ Maybe I should talk to Theseus instead? He’d probably be able to convince Seraphina to do something. Or maybe he’d fix it himself?  _ And so Newt wrote to Theseus, figuring that his patronus might set off too much of an alarm in his brothers mind. Theseus was always too overprotective of Percy.

 

That’s why when Newt witnessed Theseus walk into MACUSA, he wasn’t surprised. Disappointed? Yes, but not surprised. Sighing as Theseus approached ‘Percival’, Newt lingered back with the rest of the aurors. From what Newt could tell, Theseus was highly suspicious from the short interaction. When he suddenly turned around and left MACUSA, Newt found himself running after his brother. 

 

“Theseus! Wait up! That’s not him, is it?”

 

Theseus turned around and Newt froze, feeling a chill go down his spine at the intensity on his face.

 

“I’m gonna kill whoever that is,” Theseus growled, turning back around and walking into the streets. 

 

Newt almost lost Theseus among the busy New York streets. Not knowing where they were going, Newt clung onto Theseus’ arm to avoid getting separated. It was only a matter until felt the familiar feeling of apparating. 

 

Collapsing to the ground of a rather bare apartment, Newt scrambled to his feet, “Are you crazy what if someone saw us?”

 

“They didn’t.”

 

Newt sighed at Theseus’ brashness, he’d never been the most strategical. Letting the topic go, Newt followed Theseus throughout the apartment. Still not quite sure what was going on, Newt simply trailed after Theseus, figuring that his brother would explain when he wanted to. Eventually the two of them entered into a small bedroom. Newt bumped into the back of Theseus, who stopped in the middle of the room. 

 

“Ugh, what’s wrong Theseus?”

 

“Percy’s cufflinks are gone,” came the reply.

 

For a second, Newt was confused.  _ Does he have a collection that I didn’t know about? _ Once again, as if reading his thoughts  _ (Newt made note to check if Theseus was a Legilimens) _ , Theseus answered an unspoken question.

 

“They were family heirlooms that Percy took when he moved out. He...had some troubles with his parents, but always took pride in being a Graves.”

 

Newt didn’t know all that. Maybe Theseus was more better at keeping a secret that Newt thought he was. 

 

“What does his missing cufflinks have anything to do with anything though?”

 

“They were kept in a trunk of sorts, which means the trunk was moved. When we find the trunk, maybe we’ll find Percy.”

 

Newt let his mouth drop open at the connection, he was no stranger to the pocket charms. He used them for his own creatures after all. Newt was worried though,  _ surely there would be wards on the trunk? Probably a disillusionment charm too.  _ Suddenly, Theseus flipped through the blankets on the bed, then he moved to the closet, and he kept going around the house. Newt left him to his own devices, he was more familiar with the house anyways. 

 

Plopping himself on the bed, Newt found himself glancing around. The room was fitting for Percy, the man had always been humble and the minimalistic room reminded Newt of those letters. Laying back, Newt stared at the ceiling, listening to Theseus fumble around out there. It’s not until Newt notices a faint outline on the bed frame that he gets up. The faint creases in the cream bed frame causes eye strain and Newt reached his hand out to the smooth wood. Following where he thought the outline was, Newt felt it.  _ It’s a compartment.  _ Being reminded of Theseus’ old bedroom when they were still in Hogwarts, Newt presses down in the center of the outline.

 

It popped open.

 

And inside? A decently sized wooden trunk.

 

Whimpering at the pounding in his chest, Newt licked his lips. He had always wanted to meet Percy, but Newt never imagined it’d be under these circumstances.


End file.
